The Life of Graham Greene (1939-1955)
Page 68
19 Dieu Vivant, 17 November 1950, pp. 151–2.
20 Letter to Catherine Walston, 7 June 1948.
21 Ibid., 21 June 1948.
22 Undated letter to Catherine Walston, 1949.
23 Letter to Catherine Walston, 24 March 1950.
24 E. Equinn, Dublin Quarterly, 1950, p. 137.
25 Letter to Catherine Walston, 7 June 1948.
26 Ibid., 26 June 1948.
27 Ibid., 4 August 1948.
28 Undated letter to Catherine Walston, probably August 1949.
29 Letter to Catherine Walston, 19 January 1949.
21 Boston Tea Party
1 The Times, 21 June 1949.
2 Ibid., 23 June 1949.
3 Ibid., 24 June 1949.
4 ‘The Un-Midas Touch’, Life, 4 July 1949, p. 18.
5 Letter to Catherine Walston, 7 September 1949.
6 Ibid., 26 September 1949.
7 Ibid., 7 September 1949.
8 Ibid., 11 September 1949.
9 Ibid., 2 October 1949.
10 Ibid., 26 September 1949.
11 Ibid., 2 October 1949.
12 Ibid., 3 October 1949.
13 Ibid., 2 October 1949.
14 The End of the Affair, Heinemann, 1951, p. 66.
15 Undated letter to his mother.
16 Letter to his mother, 1 March 1949.
17 Letter to Catherine Walston, 7 October 1949.
18 Letter to Heinemann, 10 March 1950.
19 Letter to Catherine Walston, 7 December 1949.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid., 9 December 1949.
22 Ibid., 13 December 1949.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid., 9–12 December 1949.
28 The Heart of the Matter, Penguin edition, 1983, p. 13.
29 Letter to Catherine Walston, 9–12 December 1949.
30 Ibid., 14 December 1949.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid., undated letter written on board the Queen Elizabeth en route for America, February 1950.
33 Ibid.
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid., 21 February 1950.
37 Diary entry for 22 February 1950.
38 Ibid., 23 February 1950.
39 Ibid., 25 February 1950.
40 Cyrus Durgin, ‘British Novelist Graham Greene Turns Playwright and Likes It’, Boston Daily Globe, 24 February 1950.
41 Ibid.
42 Diary entry for 24 February 1950.
43 Ibid., 25 February 1950.
44 The Times, 1 March 1950.
45 Letter to Basil Dean, 27 July 1950.
46 Letter to Catherine Walston, 28 February 1950.
22 Wildly, Crazily, Hopelessly
1 Letter to Catherine Walston, 5 August 1948.
2 ‘After Two Years’, written in December 1949.
3 Letter to Catherine Walston, 10 July 1949.
4 Ibid., 5 August 1948.
5 Ibid., 6 August 1949.
6 Ibid., 8 July 1949.
7 Ibid., 26 August 1950.
8 Letter from Catherine Walston to Bonte Durán, 13 March 1950.
9 Ibid., 16 June 1950.
10 Letter to Catherine Walston, 26 November 1949.
11 Letter from Catherine Walston to Bonte Durán, 16 June 1950.
12 The Heart of the Matter, Penguin edition, 1983, p. 155.
13 Letter to Catherine Walston, 9 May 1949.
14 Ibid., 21 May 1949.
15 Ibid., 25 May 1949.
16 Ibid., 11 April 1949.
17 Ibid., 25 July 1949.
18 Ibid., probably August 1949.
19 Ibid., 16 December 1947.
20 Ibid., 26 September 1949.
21 Ibid., 19 December 1949.
22 Interview with Lady Melchett, 15 August 1991.
23 Undated letter to Catherine Walston.
24 Letter to Catherine Walston, probably July 1949.
25 Travels with My Aunt, Penguin edition, 1972, p. 15.
26 Undated letter from Catherine Walston to Bonte Durán.
27 Interview with Lady Walston, 1 June 1992.
28 Ibid.
29 Letter to Catherine Walston, 30 January 1950.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid., probably January 1950.
32 Ibid.
33 Interview with Bonte Durán, 26 May 1992.
34 Letter to Catherine Walston, 28 February 1950.
35 Letter from Catherine Walston to Bonte Durán, 13 March 1950.
36 Letter to Bonte Durán, 19 March 1950.
37 The End of the Affair, Heinemann, 1951, p. 10.
38 Letter to Bonte Durán, 19 March 1950.
39 Interview with Lady Walston, 1 June 1992.
40 Ibid.
41 Letter to Catherine Walston, 19 July 1949.
42 Letter to Bonte Durán, 19 March 1950.
43 Letter to Catherine Walston, probably 28 March 1950.
44 Ibid., March 1950.
45 Ibid.
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid., 30 March 1950.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid., 28 March 1950.
50 Much of the correspondence contains cryptic codes that cannot be interpreted now that the participants are dead. Greene ended one of his postcards to Catherine with the statement: ‘Longing for my flat’ and two lines in code which are repeated in numerous letters: ‘T.M.C.’ and ‘YLMB.’
When courting Vivien, Greene often used the code 143, sometimes covering the whole end of an envelope. The code was quite simple (the numbers representing the number of letters in the word): 1=I: 4=love: 3=you. If the code is equally simple, perhaps T.M.C. means ‘To my Catherine’ and ‘YLMB’ an assertion he wishes were true, ‘You Love Me Bobs.’ Or the first case could signify ‘Touch me Catherine’ or a statement of intent – ‘To marry Catherine’.
The last lines of one of Greene’s letters to Catherine read: ‘ROF ROF TMC TMC TMC ROF.’ I am unable to decipher the meaning of ROF, but presumably it is something so intimate that the code must remain a secret shared only by the lovers.
51 Letter to Catherine Walston, 30 March 1950.
52 Ibid., 1 April 1950.
53 Ibid., 3 April 1950 (Palm Sunday).
54 Ibid.
55 There is little doubt about Greene’s ‘sexual energy’. In 1933, when he had been married six years, Vivien received a phone call for Greene from Anita (Annette), and she knew for the first time that he was involved with prostitutes. Vivien never told Greene of the incident. In interview, Greene told me a little about his relationship with Annette:
NS: Was the prostitute related to the prostitute in Stamboul Train?
GG: Oh, yes. I mean she was the prostitute I was a little bit in love with. She suggested once that it was an absurd waste of my money to pay, but we could do a film together and both make money. But I said that I would be incapable of doing it – I mean it wouldn’t work. This was early right back in the 1930s when I was a young man. Interview with Graham Greene, 25 April 1981.
56 Letter to Catherine Walston, 13 April 1950.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid.
59 Ibid., 24 April 1950.
60 Letter from Catherine Walston to Belinda Straight, 31 January 1969.
61 Letter from Catherine Walston to Bonte Durán, 22 May 1953.
62 Letter to Catherine Walston, 6 April 1950.
63 Ibid., 26 April 1950.
64 Ibid., 25 April 1950.
65 Ibid., 26 April 1950.
66 Ibid., 30 April 1950.
67 Ibid., 3 May 1950.
68 Ibid., 4 May 1950.
69 Ibid., 13 May 1950.
70 Ibid., 24 June 1950.
71 Cable to Catherine Walston via Radio France, June 1950.
72 Letter to Catherine Walston, 17 June 1950.
73 Ibid., 7 July 1950.
74 Ibid.
75 Ibid., 16 August 1950.
76 The End of the Affair, p. 237.
77 Letter to Catherine Walston, 31 August 1950.
78 Ibid., 6 September 1950.
79 Ibid.
80 Ibid., 26 October 1950.
81 Ibid.
82 The End of the Affair, p. 70.
83 Undated letter to Catherine Walston, probably September 1950.
84 The End of the Affair, pp. 37–8.
23 War of the Running Dogs
1 Undated letter to Hugh Greene, but probably 24 October 1950.
2 Interview with Peter Levring, 6 April 1993. Interviewed on my behalf by Carole Foote, research associate.
3 Letter to Hugh Greene, 24 October 1950.
4 Ibid., 26 October 1950.
5 Ibid., 31 October 1950.
6 Ibid., 3 November 1950.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid., 13 November 1950.
11 Letter from Norman Douglas, November 1950.
12 Michael Tracey, A Variety of Lives: The Biography of Sir Hugh Greene, Bodley Head, 1983, p. 130.
13 Journal entry, 27 November 1950.
14 Letter to Catherine Walston, 30 November 1950.
15 Ibid.
16 Journal, 30 November 1950.
17 Letter to Catherine Walston, 30 November 1950.
18 Ibid., 2 December 1950.
19 Ibid., 30 November 1950.
20 Ibid., 1 December 1950.
21 Noel Barber, The War of the Running Dogs: The Malayan Emergency, 1948–1960, Weybright & Talley, 1971, pp. 434–44.
22 Ibid., p. 76.
23 Letter to Catherine Walston, 1 December 1950.
24 Ibid., 2 December 1950.
25 Ibid., 5 December 1950.
26 Ibid., 6 December 1950.
27 Ibid., 7 December 1950.
28 Ibid., 11 December 1950.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid.
31 Journal, 11 December 1950.
32 A Sort of Life, Penguin edition, 1971, p. 60.
33 Letter to Catherine Walston, 25 December 1950.
34 Ibid.
35 ‘Malaya, the Forgotten War’, Life, 30 July 1951, pp. 51–65.
36 Letter to Catherine Walston, 31 December 1950.
37 Ways of Escape, Penguin edition, 1987, p. 111.
38 Ibid., pp. 111–12.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid.
41 Ibid., p. 112.
42 Ibid.
43 Letter to his mother, probably 19 January 1951.
44 Journal, 18 December 1950.
45 Ibid., probably 20 December 1950.
46 Ways of Escape, pp. 113–14.
47 Ibid., p. 114.
48 Ibid., p. 116.
49 ‘Malaya, the Forgotten War’.
50 Ibid.
51 Ibid.
52 Ways of Escape, p. 120.
53 ‘Malaya, the Forgotten War’.
54 Ways of Escape, p. 116.
55 Journal, 15 December 1950.
56 Ways of Escape, p. 117.
57 Journal, 16 December 1950.
58 ‘Malaya, the Forgotten War’.
59 Interview with Graham Greene, 28 April 1981.
60 Journal, 10 January 1951.
61 Ibid., 15 January 1951.
62 Letter to his mother, probably 19 January 1951.
63 The Quiet American, Penguin edition, 1977, p. 88.
64 Letter to his mother, 19 January 1951.
65 ‘Malaya, the Forgotten War’.
66 Journal, 25 January 1951.
24 Bonjour Saigon
1 The Pentagon Papers, Senator Gravel Edition, vol. I, Beacon Press, 1979, pp. 49–50.
2 Telegram, 20 August 1952, ‘Indo-China: Internal Affairs: 1950–4: Confidential US State Dept’, Central Files, National Archives, Washington, DC.
3 ‘Indo-China: France’s Crown of Thorns’, Paris Match, 12 July 1952, reprinted in Reflections, trans. Alan Adamson, Reinhardt Books, 1990, p. 131.
4 Undated note from Dean Acheson, National Archives, Washington, DC.
5 Lucien Bodard, The Quicksand War: Prelude to Vietnam, trans. Patrick O’Brian, Little, Brown, 1967, p. 351.
6 Interview with Seymour Topping, 13 July 1992.
7 Ibid.
8 From a restricted telegram to Washington from Saigon, 21 September 1951, ‘Indo-China: Internal Affairs: 1950–4: Confidential US State Dept’, Central Files, National Archives, Washington, DC.
9 New York Times, 11 January 1951.
10 The Pentagon Papers, p. 67.
11 Ibid., pp. 67–8.
12 Interview with Ambassador Edmund Gullion, 1 November 1992.
13 Secret report to Washington by Wendell Blancke, US consul to Hanoi, 23 January 1951, ‘Indo-China: Internal Affairs: 1950–4: Confidential US State Dept’, Central Files, National Archives, Washington, DC.
14 Ways of Escape, Penguin edition, 1987, p. 121.
15 Ibid.
16 Journal, 25 January 1951.
17 Letter to Hugh Greene, 26 January 1951.
18 Ibid.
19 The Quiet American, Penguin edition, 1977, p. 11.
20 Interview with Seymour Topping, 13 July 1992.
21 US Consul Hanoi, Wendell Blancke, to State Department, 2 June 1951, ‘Indo–China: Internal Affairs: 1950–4: Confidential US State Dept’, Central Files, National Archives, Washington, DC.
22 Bodard, The Quicksand War, p. 186.
23 Ibid., pp. 179–82.
24 C. L. Sulzberger, New York Times, 10 May 1950.
25 Interview with Ambassador Edmund Gullion, 1 November 1992.
26 Letter to his mother, 31 October 1951.
27 A World of My Own, Reinhardt Books, 1992, pp. xviii–xix.
28 Ways of Escape, pp. 130–1.
29 Ibid., p. 131.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid., p. 132.
32 Undated journal entry.
33 The Quiet American, p. 13.
34 Ibid., p. 14.
35 Journal, 5 January 1951.
36 Interview with Seymour and Audrey Topping, 13 July 1992.
37 Journal, 31 January 1951.
38 The Quiet American, p. 46.
39 Interview with Seymour and Audrey Topping, 13 July 1992.
40 American legation report to US State Department, 31 March 1951, ‘Indo-China: Internal Affairs: 1950–4: Confidential US State Dept’, Central Files, National Archives, Washington, DC.
41 The Quiet American, p. 49.
42 Ibid.
43 Letter from Trevor Wilson to the author, 21 July 1977.
44 Letter to Catherine Walston, 25 December 1951.
45 ‘Malaya, the Forgotten War’, Life, 30 July 1951.
46 Telegram from Catherine Walston, 10 January 1951.
47 Letter to Catherine Walston, 28 February 1951.
48 Undated letter to his mother, probably written 12 February 1951.
25 Interlude on Elsewhere
1 Letter to Catherine Walston, 5 May 1951.
2 Ibid., 19 June 1951.
3 Ibid., 15 August 1951.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid., 22 March 1950.
7 Undated letter to Catherine Walston, August 1951.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Letter to Catherine Walston, 15 September 1951.
11 Loser Takes All, Penguin, 1955, pp. 103–4.
12 Letter from Evelyn Waugh, 18 August 1951.
13 Ibid., 21 August 1951.
14 Letter to Evelyn Waugh, 22 August 1951.
15 Letter from Evelyn Waugh to Catherine Walston, 25 August 1951.
16 Ibid.
17 Letter from Evelyn Waugh to Nancy Mitford, September 1951.
18 The End of the Affair, Heinemann, 1951, pp. 231–2.
19 Interview with Graham Greene, 26 July 1981.
20 Undated letter to Evelyn Waugh, September 1951.
21 Letter to Catherine Walston, 23 September 1951.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid., 25
September 1951.
25 Ibid., 29 September 1951.
26 Journal, 25 October 1951.
27 Letter to his mother, 29 October 1951.
26 A Crown of Thorns
1 Untitled manuscript, 30 December 1953.
2 Interview with Libby Getz, 11 December 1992.
3 Letter to Catherine Walston, 1 January 1952.
4 Journal, 9 January 1954.
5 Letter to Vivien Dayrell-Browning, August 1925.
6 Journal, 25 November 1951.
7 Letter from Evelyn Waugh, 5 December 1955.
8 The Quiet American, Penguin edition, 1974, p. 44.
9 Journal, 15 September 1955.
10 In the Listener, Wembley Exhibition is changed to Festival Gardens; ‘For forty seconds Pyle had not existed: even loneliness hadn’t existed’ is shortened in the BBC piece to exclude Pyle; ‘middle-aged lungs’ (Greene was forty-seven) is changed in the novel to ‘ageing lungs’ since Fowler is an older man.
11 The Quiet American, pp. 147–8.
12 Ibid., p. 149.
13 Ibid., pp. 149–50.
14 Ibid., p. 150.
15 Reflections, Reinhardt Books, 1990. p. 142.
16 ‘Indo-China: France’s Crown of Thorns’, Paris Match, 12 July 1952, reprinted in Reflections, trans. Alan Adamson, p. 131.
17 Ibid.
18 The Quiet American, p. 48.
19 Telegram from Wendell Blancke to Washington, 19 December 1951, ‘Indo-China: Internal Affairs: 1950–4: Confidential US State Dept’, Central Files, National Archives, Washington, DC.
20 Secret memorandum, ‘Indo-China: Internal Affairs: 1950–4: Confidential US State Dept’, Central Files, National Archives, Washington, DC.
21 The Quiet American, pp. 46–7.
22 Ibid., p. 48.
23 Ibid., pp. 51–2.